Okay if I sound completely ignorant about this it is because I am lol. Okay 1st off does your doctor have to recommend this surgery to you or can you just go see a doctor who does this surgery??? Sorry but Im a smoker and just wondering if the doctors make you stop that before they do this kind of surgery? also what about pregnancy and the lap ban? I mean can you get pregnant with it or how does that go???

As long as you meet the criteria of being over 40 BMI or being 35-40 BMI with co-morbidities (diabetes, arthralgia, acid reflux, infertility, etc), you can qualify for the band and go straight to a doc that does it. I don't even have a primary care provider.

Technically, nobody can MAKE you do anything. But smoking is really hard on the healing of your pouch/lapband, so it would probably be STRONGLY recommended that you quit to get the best results. As to if they'll decline to do the surgery unless you quit, I don't know for sure.

YES, you can get pregnant on the Lap Band. When I went for my psych consult the social worker asked me to consider getting on some kind of birth control because as I get smaller, it could get easier to get pregnant (unexplained infertility for 4 1/2 years and one miscarriage). If you DO get pregnant, they can monitor the amount of nutrients in your blood and your OB can determine whether or not it'll be necessary to unfill your band to get more. I've read people on here that didn't need an unfill at all and had a perfectly healthy pregnancy, didn't gain very much, and lost the weight pretty quickly afterwards. I look forward to this benefit. :clap2:

If you are going to use insurance, I'd almost bet you have to go thru your primary care doc to get a referral. Or at least document the problem (obesity) with the primary care doc.

If you are self pay- pick and choose the surgeon. You have no restrictions on where, when, or how.

And about smoking, I think I read somewhere they ask you to stop so long prior to surgery as going under you'd want to be near optimum O2 level.

And with pregnancy... no problem. The band is an appliance at the top of the stomach/lower esophogas...so it doesn't interfere with the fetus at all. Now, you must ensure you get adequate nutrition so they may unfill you during those 9 months and then right after the babe comes...tighten you up again.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Depends on your insurance plan. I did not need a referral for mine and paid $250 for my entire hospital stay etc.

As long as you fit the parameters of the doctor (actually the days of requiring you to be 100 pounds minimum overweight are falling by the wayside, thank goodness!) you can just walk in to anyplace. Of course if you are a self-pay it is even easier....pretty much no hoops to go through initially.

For pregnancy they let all the saline out of the band for that time period.

As far as smoking? Uhhhhhh....don't get me started. You're really young and this is an optimum time to stop anyway. Smoking and surgery do not mix well.